Everything you have said here makes sense and I enjoyed the content a lot. The only thing I would suggest is having a fuse on that inlet from the caravan site into your Multiplus, regardless of what SHOULD be in place by the owners of the site you're camping at. This is because you're relying on somebody else to do things right and that will never happen on every occasion. Someone will do a quick fix, a dodgy DIY job without doing their homework, or something may just not be working quite right. You'll want to have a bit of protection from the outside world into your Multiplus as those Victron inverter chargers are very expensive. Just my 2c worth, but great content, look forward to seeing more!!

Those diagrams could double as art.👍

wish i would have found your channel before i started buy my solar parts, you make it much more understandable

*In summary:* *1: You need a fuse on the 'battery end' of every positive wire in the system.* EXCEPTION: 1: You don't need fuses on positive wires where there is a fuse upstream that is already protecting it. For example: A 3 way splice for puck lights where all wires are rated for at least the fuse rating upstream. ❗My Wiring Diagrams where I've already figured all of this stuff out for you: *www.explorist.life/solarwiringdiagrams* A special note for you marine/boat/yacht users: ABYC requires overcurrent protection on the wire coming from your shore power inlet. This is because the shore power pedestals at marinas are subject to salty (corrosive) sea air and faulty breakers in the shore power pedestals are common. This is something we rarely see in the 'Camping' world and is why pretty much no RV's on the road have a breaker on the shore power inlet wire. Here is the specific ABYC standard for that: 11.10.2.5.3 Shore power systems shall have a main shore power disconnect circuit breaker. If the location of the main shore power disconnect circuit breaker is in excess of 10 ft (three meters) from the shore power inlet or the electrical attachment point of a permanently installed shore power cord, additional fuses or circuit breakers shall be provided within 10 ft (three meters) of the inlet or attachment point to the electrical system of the boat. Measurement is made along the conductors.

Nate... a super helpful video! This video really helped me see details more clearly. Thanks for breaking everything down, and sharing all your knowledge!

Great info - really well explained - thanks for posting !

Excellent description as usual!

Super clear, excellent video. Thank you

Fantastic Video - very well done

Fantastic video explanation. Thanks for sharing.

Flawless timing. This is exactly what I am tackling today. Thank you for another excellent video!

Very timely, Nate. I am just getting to the point of my van build where I need to plan for fuses and wire sizes. I had already made a note to go back and rewatch your wire size video and look for your worksheet. And I was going to see if you had a video on fuse sizes. So, at least for me, this was not at all a "filler video" as you referred to in this morning email newsletter update. Thanks again.

Great video and explanation, Nate! 😊

Another great video. I enjoy watching these because they remind me of details I've not thought of for a spell.

Excellent explanation!!

Great addition to your video collection Nate! This topic took me a long time to get my head around when I did my van last year. Everything else made sense quickly and easily thanks to all your other helpful videos.

Excellent job, I like how reference the Reg’s.

Awesome video!

good stuff appreciated

Niiice!! Greetings from copan ruinas, Honduras.

This was great, and exactly what I needed....thank you so much for making the video. I'll be moving my 200amp fuse.

i just went through this brain twister about fusing the victron 150/100 charger.. it can be tricky... thanks fora great vid....it confirmed alot for me..

It's worth noting that current flowing from a self-limiting source like a solar charge converter into a short circuit is "safe" as long as the wire is sized with sufficient ampacity to carry that self-limited fault current (which it should be). Yes current will flow, but you will not overheat the wire and/or start a fire. That is one reason for the exception in ABYC that allows not installing overcurrent protection on the charger side of the wire.

Great videos on solar! To simplify, I'd just go with an all-in-one charger/inverter. All these modules is way more complicated.

As always, great content Nate. FYI, I had previously emailed you regarding my battery controller that was not working after getting a new phone and updating it with the Victron app… long story short I was able to reset the battery monitor after fully charging the batteries and resetting the controller. I purchased almost all of the electrical system through your site and now that my van is almost complete I would love to have you look at my system and get your thoughts. Thanks for all you do to help us DIY’s.

Great presentation. You covered everything very well. I guess for the 30a charge controller I better ensure I have wiring that can handle the 30 amps. In the case of a short neither the wire nor charge controller will care that there is 30amps of current, during a short.

wouldn't a BMS protect the battery against overcharging, so would I need a fuse? I'm asking cause I made solar system for my Office, and I'm wondering if I need to add fuses, Based on your videos I will add to the inverter connections. I made a video about my set up, and I'm just wondering how I can improve it. Great Explanations by the way!

What about including a fuse for each battery, in the event of a battery failure ?

Great tutorial. We have three 120AH lithium 12.8 V LiFePO4 Batteries what size fuse should I put 7 inches from my battery. We are using 2AWG wire to the batteries. We had planned to use a 270 fuse right at the battery terminal. Any help would be wonderful.

I think the first part of the video could be confusing to some people because you describe power flowing “through both wires”. DC circuits (almost all) flow power from the positive side of the power source, through the load, and then back through the ground. Yes there is power going through both wires, but the direction matters and you can’t really short circuit the ground side of the circuit. Clarifying that might help people who are confused about where to put the fuse to remember to always put it on the positive side of the circuit…

In your DIY Sprinter Camper Van Electrical Install - Full Tutorial, your fuse is close to the discount switch. Not close to the batteries. I wired mine this way as well (following the video example). Seems fine. You share here standard is to be close to the source of power. Thoughts on having the fuse closer to the shutoff switch instead of the battery. I might be able to move mine, but right now it is in a good location for mounting. Positive/negative lines are equal distance. Thanks.

For the batteries, is the fuse for redundancy, since most quality batteries have built-in short circuit protection?

Hi, great information videos. Thanks for all you share. Might you have a video on replacing the standard coach lead acid batteries with the new lithium ion batteries like battle born or another brand. I understand that it’s probably also important to change the standard issue converter / inverter in order to properly charge The lithium ion batteries. And also something called a shunt should be installed so that the battery condition can be monitored. Might you have a video showing how to do that? Thanks again.

Don’t chargers usually sense shorts and go into fault mode? Is that not your protection from the other side?

What do I need to set up for shore power? I’m not ready to set up solar

Really great video and good explanation :) byt why do you have ground/chassis connection? as far i can se it wouldnt be a problem to make i a floating system, only that the dc/dc charger should be an isolated model :)

Thanks for the overview…how do fuses built into batteries factor in? I assume they’re just extra protection for the small amount of wire between the battery and the main fuse in the system?

I currently have a blue sea main disconnect switch between Lynx power in and lynx distributer and the switch is getting hot. Should I replace it with a class t fuse or a blue sea 600amp switch? No loose connections just running 170a continuous I’ve read heats the switches up

Nice video. your right solar gets confusing. So you do not need to fuse your solar panels on the out put of the solar panel? Now on the input side of the mppt you show an isolation switch. If I have two 200 watt panels feeding back to the 40 amp mppt controller. Each pael runing a pair of wires back, individually meaning 2 positives and 2 negatives one set per solar panel. Could I put them into a y solar connector fitting and then feed the mppt from the y fitting? As well i do not have to fuse the out put of the MPPT controller. Thank you

Thanks for taking the time to do this. I was wondering, do you recommand any AWG Gauge Size Chart that would match your calculator? I tried to compare with the Blue Sea chart and for some reason, in some cases it doesnt seem to match my findings. So, maybe I'm missing something. I like the shortcuts that your calculator provides but I also want to understand better. Thanks :-)

Nate, as far as I can remember from boats: There is always a fuse right at the input (receptacle) at the stearn. I assume the thought is not to trust some unknown power outlet from outside. As another explanation: There are often bigger outlets in the shore box than my ship needs. So people have that (not legal) adapters from 50A plug to our 16A line into the boat. That box at start shall protect all the internal wiring - or is responsible for the internal wiring, not pretending on proper fusing outside.

Informational video, but consider including source references (ABYC for example) in the video description. No mention of UL Standard 458. In any system that interconnects DC (which has the potential of “unlimited” amperage) to AC requires circuit protection because most AC wiring can’t handle DC amperage, thus creating a fire hazard. Many installers and DYIers disregard/don’t understand why the protection is required. Circuit protection is more than just fuse/breaker size. It’s also maximum amperage, and the ability to prevent and extinguish an arc.

hi sir . how can we calculate the fuse size for 2 battery 200 ah. as sample in parralel

So every input source from solar panel solar blanket DC/DC need mppt current contrôler then fuse and then to the buss bar and breaker box exept the box 3000 w inverter who manage his own input and output right?

I wonder if the victron charge controller has a way to sense a short circuit and turn off

Para hacer un camión vivienda taller de 5Kw de inversor que sería mejor , un regulador y batería o inversor contado junto?

I have seen a Victron video which instructed you to feed shorepower through a domestic AC breaker before being connected to a MultiPlus. Then the AC power out from the MultiPlus goes back through a domestic breaker before being distributed to AC sockets. This a new one on me. Up to then I had assumed that that the shore power cable went directly to the MultiPlus and then to the domestic breaker box. What do you think?

I have a very simple electrical system. I have a 30 amp solar controller that I've placed a 30 amp fuse within 7" of the positive output of the controller. I also have my converter at the rear and Batteries up front that has a 4 awg wire running to the battery that I believe will carry current to the Batteries for charging, but also carry the current from the batteries to the 12v distribution panel. Why wouldn't want a fuse at either end to limited the amount of power. I should never have more than 50 amps running through this wire.

Could you do a wiring schematic for 4 Heliene 360watt panels going into 2 Renogy Rover 40A charge controllers? I split the array bc the controllers are rated at 1040 watts for a 24v battery bank ...3 panels are 1080 watts so I split them into 2 groups of 2. I'm wiring a camper so for the purpose of weight distribution I put 6 batteries over the left axle and across the hall I put 6 batteries over the right side of the axle. The batteries are 55ah gel batteries with each pair wired in series then in parallel with the next pair for 3 sets of 2 batteries then connected to the other group of 6 batteries across the hall...wire length between the 2 groups approximately 6 feet. All series/parallel connections are done with 6 awg wire. The panels have the following tolerances... 360 watts Voltage MPP-37.3 Current MPP-9.65 VOC-45.3 Current SC -10.18 Max System Rating-1000V Fuse Rating-15A Thank you for taking the time to look this over. Cheers

Can I start the Multiplus 12/3000, with Orion TR DC - DC charger using default settings temporarily until I get a MK3 to USB connector to download software for programming the inverter?

Some folks say negative wires need fuse s and cut-off protection. Any idea why?

Can you do some videos on EMP protection?

Question!!! What brand and type of assorted washers do you use? Ty.

If I have a 200 amp hour battery bank. What size main fuse would I need?

Hey been watching your channel for quite sometime and I'm currently doing my catamaran but I'm at a information overload right now. Would love your help if you got time

Can you use two fuses for the batteries, one on the terminal and one before the power cut off battery switch? 🖖

I did the power audit. Results suggested I add a 400W system with a 3000W Inverter and 200 Ahr battery bank. Spent A LOT of money on components. Have a 270 Ahr Battle Born BBGC3 battery with Victron MultilPlus 12/3000 Inverter. Of course first thing I discover after purchase when I read the manual, Page 8, "recommended battery capacity (Ah) 400 - 1200. The MultiPlus Quick istallation guide shows a frame with a main battery and trickle battery going to the inverter. Adding a 100 AH battery would get me to 370 Ah. That's close to 400 Ar. I am broke. Any ideas?

Nate: Good video but……..ABYC requires OCPD within 10’ of the shore power inlet. We simply don’t trust the pedestal breaker in the marine environment. Further, that “unprotected” 10’ of wire inside the boat has some very specific requirements levied on it to ensure it’s physical integrity and to mitigate the possibility of a short circuit.

I was curious can I just pay you guys for a wiring diagram

Why does a 100 amp fuse protect the DC block when using 6awg wire? 6 gauge wire isn't rated for 100 amps.

Why not use MRBF Terminal Fuses?

I'm sorry, but you can protect the wiring of a 30A charge controller very close to it with a 35-40 amp circuit breaker or fuse, with the proper wire size! As I have done many time in the past, nothing is unprotectable with the correct knowledge!

Dont fuses go in a fuse holder.

Your website on a mobile device is kinda a pain in the ass ngl

A solar controller or a dc/dc charger is no different to a battery , it should have circuit protection. You can say a battery is a self limited power source as well , just much bigger then an mppt controller or dc/dc charger . Take a look at all the suggested install diagrams from Victron energy which you use a lot